344? Miscellaneous. 



Chaillu. The holes in the skin of the neck were mere slits made by 

 the knife, after the death of the Gorilla, probably in the act of flaying 

 and removing the skin from the long projecting cervical spines : those 

 holes showed no mark of contraction of" living skin, like the wound 

 in front of the chest. 



" Richard Owen." 



To the Editor of the Annals of Natural History. 



British Museum, Sept. 21, 1861. 



Sir, — May I request that you will lay before your readers the ac- 

 companying engraving from a photograph* of the bones of the trunk 

 of the ' King of the Gorillas,' with the articulating wires, and also of 

 the posterior region of the skull of the same skeleton, exactly in the 

 condition in which they were sent to the British Museum by M. Du 

 Chaillu. The photograph shows the holes in the back of the skull (a), 

 which Professor Owen, in answer to an observation made by Dr. Sclater 

 at the Manchester Meeting, stated that he had not observed, together 

 with the true position of the fracture of the ribs. I repeat my invita- 

 tion to all who take an interest in the subject to inspect the specimens 

 and determine for themselves ; but, for the sake of those who are un- 

 able to visit the Museum, I offer a photographic representation as next 

 best corroboration of the correctness of my statement. It will at once 

 be seen that the fracture of the seventh, eighth, and ninth ribs on the 

 right side is not situated "at the back part of the chest, where the ribs 

 bend outwards aud forwards, and are so close together as to overlap," 

 but is very greatly in front of the position indicated, being as nearly 

 as possible in the middle of the side, where the ribs stand widely 

 apart, and where it is impossible that any bullet entering the chest 

 in front could have found its exit. Neither is there the slightest 

 indication of the fracture having taken place " from within outwards." 

 On the contrary, it is the unanimous opinion of the medical and 

 scientific men to whom I have shown the skeleton, that the injury to 

 the ribs was caused by external violence ; and this is rendered more 

 probable by the existence of a fracture of the collar-bone on the same 

 side. 



The lateral position of the fractures at once disposes of all Pro- 

 fessor Owen's argument as to the mode in which a bullet might enter 

 " in front " of the left side of the chest without injury to the ribs of 

 that side, and pass out on the other side, breaking three ribs in its 

 exit. It is also very significant, that Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Wilson, 

 the artists by whom the skin was stuffed, should not have observed any 

 bullet-holes in the chest or back while the skin was damp and soft, and 

 that they should have noticed the holes in the nape of the neck and 

 considered them as bullet-holes. Certainly no taxidermist with any 

 experience would fail to perceive the difference between a bullet-hole 

 made during life, which forces the edge of the wound aside, and a 

 "slit made by the knife after death, in the act of flaying." 



I am, Sir, yours obediently, J. E. Gray. 



* The artist having copied the photograph without reversing it, the fracture 

 appears as if it were on the left instead of the right side. 



